


Demigods Through The Ages

by Firebird24811



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Abortion and miscarriage run rampant, Adventure, Annabeth and Reyna and Hazel and sort of Calypso and Nico and Jason are all alphas, Because Mama don't hold out on punches, But felt it detracts from the story if I focus on it, Charries of all the rainbow!, Death, Don't even get started on Rufus, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Fire, Forbidden kids, Gay charries, Hector is totes adorbs, I considered their sex life, I'm not a smutty writer, In one OC name, Kudos if you get the hidden reference, Lesson of the day is naming is hard, M/M, Multi, Next Generation, No smutty goodness, Omega!verse, Percy and Frank and Leo and sort of Calypso and Piper are all omegas, Percy and Nico are total fanboys, Plotless, Prophecies, Quests, Tearjerker, Then again Caleo isn't much better, They named a son after Butler from Artemis Fowl, They named another son referencing Neil Patrick Harris and his role as Dr Horrible, They named their son after Nathan Fillion, Though there will be mentions, Trans charries, crackfic, flames, hint hint, hopefully, learn those obscure names, not sure where the kids stand, probably no smut, stay in school kids, totally for fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-10
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-03 18:19:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4110508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firebird24811/pseuds/Firebird24811
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A crazy of whirlwind of stories, set place in a universe where Omegas and Alphas (and betas!) exist in harmony...ish. Watch the sevens lives, if they had been just a little different, and their kids lives, and...anything else that looks shiny.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stoking the Flames Part 1: Hes alive! Hes alive! Hes gonna die when we get our hands on him!

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my crazy messed up world of Perico! Its crack fic, my guilty pleasure. Oh, and a preface: Bianca IS alive. Short explanation: Zoe had a total ladyboner for her and kept her from the quest on purpose, Bianca got a little pissy cause she had one for Zoe and made Percy promise to take care of Zoe. When Zoe died, Bianca freaked out and told Percy if he couldn't even take care of one person (referencing both Zoes death, the death of the member who replaced Bianca, AND the capture of Annabeth), then they were no safer here. She made Nico follow her into the labryinth or whatever, basically following Nicos path except that she was trying to raise Zoe. Nico isn't QUITE as aloof in this AU, but his sister had a huge grudge against Percy and as we've seen, Nico really loved her, so it was difficult to avoid hating him in a way.

"Nico! Get your scrawny butt back here!"

The son of Hades sighed in a manner that his older sister would call melodramatic and turned to face Jason, one eyebrow cocked. "What is it, Grace?"

The golden boy of the prophecy was scowling at him, shaking his index finger in a gesture Nico knew all too well from the years of just him and Bianca. He'd done something wrong. "You don't get away this time! If you leave before the hunters do, your sister and mine will kill me for not taking better care of you. Besides, Percy's at the pavilion...don't you want to see him before he leaves?"

Nico reddened. "Not really." Ever since Percy and Annabeth had broken up from their two-day relationship, Bianca had been bugging him about asking Percy out. Even though these days it wasn't uncommon for two men or two women to be in a relationship, and even omegas and alphas were dating each other more often, it was still awkward. Nico decided to change the subject before Jason suggested bringing over one of their sisters to slap some sense into him. "How're you holding up?"

Jasons expression froze. "How'm I--" he interrupted himself, then continued, "I'm...I'm fine, Nico, I mean..." His voice cracked a little. "I'm a little hurt that Leo didn't trust me enough to tell me but..." Jason trailed off, and Nico was trying to come up with something sympathetic to say, because honestly, he liked the guy, but empathy wasn't his strong suit, when he noticed Jasons face slowly turning red. "What...is...that?!" he finally squeaked.

Curious, Nico turned. The weather vane on top of the Big House with the flying Pegasus was there...wait, no, it wasn't. That wasn't the weather vane. What looked like a flower grew up where the vane used to be, supporting a huge upside down ice cream cone shaped speaker that had a cannon on the top of some sort. It was also bright red and yellow.

When Nico turned, there was one on top of every cabin, and in the center of the pavilion. In unison, they all sprayed the immediate area with red and gold glitter. The unfortunate Athena and Hepheastus kids who'd been closest to them were coated in it. A moment later, a voice blared out of the speakers. "The Supreme commander lives! Did you miss me, my people!"

A second later, they heard a slap, and a girls voice, chiding, "Leo, stop that, you disappeared for a month and a half."

Sounds of light hitting and screeches and Leo ducked the afore mentioned slaps. "Ow, Calypso, quit it! Aren't alphas supposed to fawn over omegas or something?"

"Not when they're being morons." Despite the words, this Calypso girl seemed truly fond of their little firecracker. But that didn't change the fact that Leo was still alive and somehow never found the time to tell any of them. Nico had known for weeks, but still! The dude couldn't be bothered to send even one IM?

"Anyway, where was I? Oh, right, the part where I apologize in advance because Cally told me I should warn you all to get Percy ready to douse any flames cause we--"

"--YOU--"

"-- _I_ accidentally gave Festus a little too much tabasco sauce so some trees might..."

The sound ended and the speakers blew out more glitter much to the demigods annoyence, before retreating. The next second, a loud roar sounded and they saw a golden blur drop into the forest, flames rolling around it.

"Leo's back," Nico said finally, breaking the silence.


	2. Nicos Antipasto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico is making a nice dinner and Percy has some news. Shorter than I'd like, sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, the first bit will always have the time so you have a timeline as to whats going on. If kids are introduced that you don't know, I'll introduce them briefly up here.

_Hearthstone, August 14th, 2019_

~

"Percy?" Nico was almost done with dinner, and his adorable boyfriend was nowhere to be found. He and Percy had tried a few different systems of meals, like alternating who cooked on what days, but after a few weeks of almost nothing but pizza on Percy days, Nico had put his foot down and ended up full-time cook. Nico would never admit it, but he enjoyed spending the time in the kitchen. It reminded him of when he was a little boy back in Italy, cooking with his Mamma and Bianca. Nico didn't actually remember where he had lived in Italy, so he just looked up everything. Percy was more than happy to sample the results.

Just before Nico decided to go looking for Percy, he answered. "In the bathroom." Something about his boyfriends tone of voice worried Nico. It wasn't quite right. Nico glanced at the oven, then decided it would be safe to leave the bread in the oven a little longer. He wiped his hands clean on a towel and tossed it on the counter, then went to hunt down a seaweed brain. Nico found Percy in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet and staring at something intently, his eyebrows knit together.

"Uh oh," Nico said softly, peeking in and walking over to kneel next to Percy. "That looks like your brooding face. What do you got there, Perce?" Wordlessly, Percy showed him the plastic strip. Nicos eyes widened. "Oh...so you..."

Percy nodded miserably. "I swear, I don't know when it could have happened, we're so careful! But I wasn't feeling so good and I was at Leos helping him with something for Calypso and he suggested it so I thought what the heck..." Percy tossed the pregnancy test onto the sink and buried his face in his hands. "We can't possibly...I mean--we're still kids really-we're not ready--are we?" Percy was stammering and clearly upset, and even though most of the time, Percy gave off this powerful son of the big three aura, right now he was just a twenty-one year old. 

Nico shifted around so that he could put his arms around Percy. "You do know we don't have to go through with it, right?" he whispered, "As much as I want to start a family with you, that doesn't mean you have to go through with this. You're still trying to decide on your career, I'm still in college, we don't have to rush this. Do you want this child? Are you willing to go through with it? Its up to you, _il mio tesoro_." [Trans: my treasure]

Percy looked up at him, his eyes shining with tears, "Not really," he admitted, "But Nico, does that make me a bad father? Am I saying I'd rather pick one child over another?"

"Shhh." Nico shook his head right away. "Never, never. I know you would never do that,  _Caro_ , but sometimes, pregnancies aren't intended, and as much as I would love a child, we're not exactly in the ideal situation. You should never let anyone tell you that you can't choose whether to end a pregnancy or not." [Trans: Darling]

Percy looked down at his hands, then at Nico. "Will...will you make the appointment?" he asked very quietly.

Nico kissed the top of his head. "Of course, _il mio amore, il mio tesoro_. Anything." [Trans: my love, my treasure]

"Then...can we get Ben & Jerrys afterwards and watch Doctor Horrible?" Percy looked up with puppy eyes, crossing his fingers. "And can I sing Pennys parts?"

Nico laughed at his boyfriends silliness. "Whatever you want, love. But my Penny is staying alive, thank you very much."


	3. Honey Boys, Home Girls, and Destinies Children (Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New demigods! Also...wait, why is that kid tied up?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This skips forwards several years. I'm only listing characters who still live at home/are instrumental to the plot/might show up. I might add more later.
> 
>  _The Di Angelo Kids_ : Domovoi "Dom," Gabriel "Gabe," James, Andromeda "Andy"/Persephone "Percy"/Sarah, Charles/Jackson, Nathan, Zoe, Adolfus "Rufus," Catherine/Donna.
> 
>  _The Grace Kids_ : Aison "Ace," Andrew, Melanie "Mel"/Simon.
> 
>  _The Chase Kids_ : Lucas, Juliette, Frederick "Freddie."
> 
> _The Zhang Kids_ : Marie, Samuel "Sammy"/Finn.
> 
>  _The Valdez Kids_ : Archimedes "Archie," Atlas "Lassie," Esperanza "Anza"/Callida "Callie"/Samantha "Sammy."
> 
>  _The La Rue-Rodriguez Kids_ Alexander "Alex"/Silena "Lena," Quillon "Quill."
> 
>  _OCS_ Melissa "Mel" Strong, Kendra Reed, Jackson Lake, Moriko Temple, Adelaide "Addie" Moss, Jessie Mist, Cassandra Mist, Trinity, Chad, Armonie Bloomfield, Hector, Rebecca "Becky" Dew.

_Training Arena, Camp Half-Blood, June 6th, 2042_

"I concede!" Wiping the sweat off her forehead,  Andromeda Di Angelo sat back, grabbing her water bottle.

Mel, her opponent, a handsome son of Ares, grinned. "Beating you is too easy," Mel said casually, dropping his sword in favor of some water Kendra tossed him.

"Well, yeah," Andy grumbled, "You're too godsdamned cute!" Deciding to drop the subject, she turned to Aison. "So, how are you? I never got a chance to ask."

Aison didn't look at her. He had been taking notes the entire match. She waited for him to speak. Maybe he would have relaxed by now?

"You left your right side open when you tried to thrust in between his arms," he finally said, not looking up from his paper, "An acid spitting monster or one with projectile weapons could take you out easy. And when you snuck up behind him, you didn't watch your back, or look before you leaped, and you're not very quiet. A monster could hear you coming and ready their defenses so that instead of jumping onto an easy kill, you skewer yourself for them. And what if there were two? You would--"

"--Okay, Aison, I got it," Andy snapped, crossing her arms as she blushed angrily. She wasn't that bad, was she? Aison had been like this all year long, ever since last winter. Uncle Jason and Aunt Piper had sent him to the Greek camp hoping he would be able to relax and start to get over it. "I swear, Aison, if you don't get rid of this attitude, I will make James summon Julia from Elysium so she can bitch-slap the sense into you!" Aison turned a curious shade of purple, and opened his mouth, no doubt about to yell at her, but stopped. Instead, he fled the arena, clutching his notes to his chest.

Andy looked back at Mel. "Too much?" He nodded. "I'd better apologize to him later..." Andy cursed at herself. Papa and Dad would kill her for upsetting Aison.

"Hey Mel!" Andy looked up and saw Kendra running over. She wondered why Kendra wasn't at her watch post. "New demigods incoming!"

"Traditional or new?" Mel asked quickly, standing up as if he hadn't been training for an hour.

"Traditional," Kendra replied, "Chads holding them off, but..." She looked worried for her boyfriend. Andy could relate. She'd be beating herself up for days if anything happened to Mel.

Andy stood up. "Lets go then!" She and Mel followed Kendra to the hill. She was only mildly surprised by the numbers of monsters. The closer demigods got to camp, the more monsters they tended to reach. There was a reason several safe houses had been constructed along the way to Camp and Hearthstone.

Mel ran to join the fight with Kendra, but Andy stood a moment, observing the fight before she jumped in headlong. Her fathers had always thanked the gods that she inherited Papa's forethought, and she used this now, looking for a spot where her skills were needed most. She had seen groups of monsters before, but this was crazy. It reminded her of history class, when they discussed the pine decade, when Thalia Grace came to camp. Only very powerful demigods attracted this many monsters. True, monsters had increased in the past fifty years, slowly and surely, but she'd still never seen this many. Not since Narcissa Lockwood and Moriko Temple came to camp.

Scanning the hill, she saw four clumps. She went over each one quickly; that one was Apollo kids, with one satyr and two new demigods being half walked up, half carried. They'd halted, and the smaller girl seemed to be screaming, but there was nothing Andy could do there.

Second clump, mostly monster dust and Ares/Athena kids and legacies. The only monster left there was a giant hydra, and they seemed to be trying to drag Becky away as the war-lusting daughter of Ares swung her twin axes, slicing two or four heads off at a time. Andy shook her head; nothing she could do there. Unless they found some Greek fire, they'd have to get one of the Hephaestus kids or Archie. Children of Hecate could only make illusion fire.

Contrary to popular belief, children of Hephaestus with fire powers were more common than previously thought. The main problem was that their powers were not always easily controlled, and they were often killed young, either by superstitious mortals, monsters, or even by messengers of Aphrodite and other rivals of Hephaestus. Aphrodite and Hephaestus did not always get along, and often pitted their children against each other to try to one-up the other, and would often kill demigod children of the other if they felt the child was too powerful. Only fates intervention could save those demigods, or in Leos case, Hera. However, since the Giant war, demigods of Hephaestus were coming in more often with fire powers. 

Moving on, Andy looked at the third and fourth clumps. The third clump was the one that Mel and Kendra had joined, with Chad. Two empousa and a monkey-like creature. That must have been what worried Kendra, since the empousa were distracting Chad, and to a lesser extent, Kendra herself. Andy would have joined that, but the fourth one distracted her. One kid stood at the bottom of the hill, looking terrified, with a satyr and demigod on either side protecting her and two legacies. There were four hellhounds, five storm spirits, and one of the Gorgons. All in all, a very imbalanced fight. Andy had no idea why they had so little help. Then she saw the boy. A small boy was curled up on the outskirts of the group of demigods, tied up. The monsters were attacking him, but tentatively, like they weren't sure whether he was an enemy or a friend, and those who attacked him did so extremely slowly and scared-looking, like they were swimming through honey to get to him. To Andys horror, none of the demigods were even attempting to protect him, and she could have sworn she saw one of the demigods give the boy a dirty look and kick him away when the boy tried to crawl into the group for protection. What was going on there?

Without a second thought, Andy gathered the shadows around herself and faded into them, popping into existence next to the boy, who stared up at her, terrified. Her heart went out to this little kid. He looked severely malnourished, and had scars and wounds all over his body, along with lacerations from where the rope had bitten into his skin. Without waiting for the others to respond to her arrival, she scooped up the boy in her arms and stepped back into the shadows, intending to travel to the infirmary straight away.

What followed next was the most painful experience of Andys life. Usually, shadow travel was simple. Shadows were like a second skin to everything. Similar to the labyrinth, you simply stepped into a shadow and you were in the Shadow World, as Papa had called it when he taught her. Shadow World was more than just another world, though, it was a living entity. Similar to making an IM. You step back into a shadow, going into the shadow world, as you thought of where you wanted to go. While it was really instantaneous, maybe a few minutes if it was far enough apart, it felt like minutes to you. To Andy, it felt like swimming down a dark tunnel, the moment just before you finished going through the tunnel, when it felt like the tunnel would end, and then the next thing you know it does end. 

When she traveled with the boy, she had expected that. What she had not expected was to have the shadows try to push her out into her destination, and the destination be filled in with pain so she couldn't get there. She sprang back from that encounter and tumbled out of the shadows into the closest place the shadows could bring her and the boy. Right under the belly of a hellhound, which was the darkest place. As they popped into existence again, a familiar bronze sword bit through the skin of the hellhound, and monster dust sprayed all over them. She stared up at the unmistakable face of Perseus Di Angelo, otherwise known as Dad.

Andy smiled weakly. "Hi Dad. New camper, see?"


	5. Stoking the Flames Part 2: We have BOOKS about this stuff?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two months after Leo comes back to camp, things heat up a little with the newest demigods. Also: Percy is adorable when he's taking care of kids, and it turns out Leo can actually be scary when it comes to his siblings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this is only two months after Leo arrives, there is no time stamp at the top. Timestamps are only for when the time is long enough to be confusing. Also, I apologize for any incorrect Spanish, as I am a lazy lazy bitch who uses the evil Google Translate.

For the next two months, any time that Nico saw Leo, he was surrounded by at least one sibling, and at least two of his fellow quest-goers. He couldn't help feeling a little sorry, though he wasn't sure who he felt more sorry for, Leo, or his bodyguards. The scrawny tinker had been dubbed "grounded" by the entire Hephaestus cabin and Chiron hadn't argued.

Nico tried to avoid him. Not because he didn't like Leo. He would never admit it out loud, but he had a bit of a soft spot for the boy. No, because after Leo got a little over-excited (nobody would tell Nico how Leo was let in the place alone) and set the craft building on fire, Percy was almost always one of his guards. And Nico still wasn't ready to talk to him.

Technically, it was already October, and a lot of campers, Percy included, should have been at school, but the camp had taken a long time to recover. Instead of going to school this year, Chiron and the older Athena kids were tutoring the camp in place of camp activities. Nico had noticed Annabeth conferring frequently with Chiron and Grover, and suspected it had something to do with New Rome and the land across the road and the woods, but didn't care enough to ask further.

Nico was training one evening in the arena. No-one would train with him, so he summoned a few skeletons instead. He knew Will Solace, head healer, was probably shaking his head at this unnecessary use of power, but Nico liked it. Ever since he fully recovered from his fading, he'd been testing the limits of how far he could go, flexing and training it like a muscle. He didn't want to be out of practice if something major came up.

He was just returning the bones to the earth, thanking them for their help, when a demigod ran into the arena. From the looks of things, the poor kid had drawn the short straw and been told to fetch Nico. "Meeting at the Big House," the kid mumbled. Now Nico recognized him as the new kid Sawyr, a son of Janus. "New demigods came this morning ago under unusual circumstances."

Nico frowned. "How many?" Ever since the Titan and then subsequent Giant war, gods had gone to greater pains to claim their children, but the camp was sorely under-staffed.

"Six...the protector is dead, they said she died about a mile back." Nico muttered under his breath about gods who enjoyed having children a little too much and sprinted down the path towards the Big House. He wasn't sure why he was needed, but the answer was probably a bad one.

In the meeting room, there was chaos. They didn't have a lot of minor godly children at camp yet, but there were still enough so that Nico had to squeeze in next to Jason and Piper. Finally, Chiron banged one hoof on the floor. "Silence!" The room quieted instantly. The centaur seemed to have aged centuries after the Giant war, and Nico felt sorry for the old mentor. He just couldn't catch a break these days. "First of all, Katie, did the Demeter cabin retrieve the satyrs flower?"

Katie looked near tears, and Travis for once wasn't making fun of her. Instead, they were holding hands. "Yes." She sniffled. "Its a peony. We brought it to the council to plant."

"The satyr who brought in these demigods is to be commended, and her loss will be felt. As for the children..." While Chiron started explaining how they had been found, Nico glanced over at Percy. Nico hadn't seen Percy in a few days, and as ever, he felt an inexplicable pull towards the handsome son of Poseidon. Realizing he was staring at Percy, Nico glanced away quickly. He wondered briefly why there were two small children on Leos lap, cuddling the older demigod and staring at the group terrified. They looked similar to Leo, actually. Probably around five years old, they were scrawny, one with a mop of messy brown curls, the other with black curls, both with wide hazel eyes. He couldn't tell if they were boys or girls, because their hair was long, but clearly not out of choice, and they wore grubby clothes. "There are six demigods. The oldest was claimed while in the infirmary. Clarisse, after the meeting you'll need to clear a bunk for your sister." The usually tough-as-nails girl looked almost scared at the prospect of welcoming a new sibling in. "Two of the boys we aren't completely sure about their parent yet, so until they get claimed, they'll stay in the Hermes cabin." Chiron watched Travis, then added, "And no stealing their stuff!" 

"Aw, c'mon, Chiron!" Katie punched Travis's shoulder and glared at him, but Nico noticed no venom in that look. Just exasperated love. Nico wondered if Percy would ever look at him--no, bad Nico, don't think about it. Sure, he broke up with Annabeth, and he hadn't seemed to mind it when Nico kissed him that time, but they also hadn't talked enough for him to be sure. Maybe Percy was really actually mad at him, and never wanted to see him again. He had seemed distant between the time that he came back to New Rome, and the time that Nico left to bring the Athena Parthonos here.

A piece of paper folded into a clumsy airplane hit Nico in the chest. Baffled, he opened up the paper.

**Hey Nico, are you mad at me? - Percy**

 

Nico stared at the paper. How had he given that impression? Sure, people said he was scary, and he wasn't that great at expressing himself, and he had been avoiding Percy, but...okay, Nico knew the answer to his own question. He quickly scrawled down an answer and slid it across the table, hoping to attract less attention. He ignored Jason and Pipers looks his way.

_Where did you get that idea from? I've been busy, that's all. I'll talk to you after the meeting, okay?  - Nico_

Nico turned his attention back to the meeting just to see Jason turn an amusing combination of red and white as Chiron continued on to tell them that in addition to the daughter of Ares and two unknown campers, there was also a little girl, eight years old, who was a daughter of Zeus. In other circumstances, Jason would have been asked to step down as head counselor of the Zeus cabin, since technically he was the son of Jupiter, but since he was staying in camp as a Greek and she was so little, he would just be responsible for taking care of her. Nico wondered how that would turn out. Now it was his turn to smirk at Jason. Not only would it probably be a total flop, but he wouldn't have to deal with Jason telling him six times a day to just ask Percy out already.

"The only matter lies in these two. They--"

" _Devuélveme mi Tito! Mi hermano!_ " [trans: Give me back my Tito! My brother!] one of the kids on Leos lap suddenly screamed. Nico stared, shocked, as flames burst from the kids hands to attempt to set Annabeth on fire. Thankfully, Leo clapped his hands over hers before it reached Annabeth, willing the flames to shrink. The girl stared at him, eyes wide. Nico realized Annabeth had been trying to coax the boy onto her lap so Leo could sit more easily and the other kid took it the wrong way, thinking Annabeth was stealing him. They didn't look much older than eight.

"They are children of Hephaestus," Chiron finished calmly. "Leo, as they speak Spanish, do you mind translating?"

Leo shook his head. "Sure, Chiron." He then returning to calming the two down. Every time little flames started to pop up in their hair, he'd pinch it out. " _Cálmate, princesa, nadie va a tomar Tito distancia_." [Trans: Calm down, Princess, nobody's gonna take Tito away.] Nico shuffled a little in his seat, nervous. Two fire users at camp? That didn't sound good.

"What is your name?" Chiron asked, and Leo repeated it in Spanish.

The kid sniffled and rubbed her sleeve on her nose. The little boy, Tito, looked up at Annabeth, now sitting on her lap. "Adelita."

Chiron went through a few more questions; how old they were, where their mother was, etcetera. Nico tuned most of it out, falling into his favorite daydream where he and Percy had fresh gelato in a little Italian cafe, trading tastes of each others treats through kisses. Percy had something blue, as usual, and Nico had something chocolate that blended together when they locked lips in the most irresistible way. Percy was just about to say something important, Nico was sure of it, but before he could, Jason shook Nicos shoulder and the daydream dissipated.

Nico was about to snap at Jason, when he realized that the chatter had ended. The little kids were in a corner of the room with Percy, who was helping them wash up and play quietly to occupy them. Nico wondered why they were still in here, but Chiron probably had a reason to keep them. Nico looked back in time for Chiron to start talking. "We aren't sure why two more fire users have popped up, and considering the history of those who survive to camp, it likely means something important. This morning, Miss Rachel Dare, the camp oracle, IMed me. Last night she had a dream that relates to this, and she was able to give me not only the details, but a prophecy, which means that we shouldn't have to be bothering her school again any time soon." Chiron seemed rather satisfied with this.

"Over a hundred years ago, the camp received a set of thirteen books from Lord Zeus. The contents of the books were never disclosed to me, but I have reason to suspect that among them are various lessons the gods felt necessary for their children. The fate of these books is a mixed lot. The Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades books are currently in my possession, as ordered after the oath to not have any more children. I will be returning them post haste." Chiron had the grace to look embarassed about not having done this before. "The books for the Aphrodite, Hermes, Hera, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Ares, and Demeter cabins are all in their cabins. Hestia has hers with her. The only one we never received was the one from Lord Hephaestus. Presumably, he sent it by way of automaton, and the device failed to reach us. We weren't very concerned about it. Then Rachel called."

Nico watched with interest as Chiron passed out a packet of papers. He wondered what Hades would have thought to put in his book. Maybe it had tips for shadowtraveling. Then again, knowing Hades, it was more likely a warning not to die young so Hades would have to deal with them too soon. Looking through the papers, Nico felt a chill run down his back. A charcoal drawing of kids huddled in a corner, a hand raised in the foreground with a knife as if to stab them. An intense painting of a cross burning, with children tied up at the base. A sketch, rough, as if Rachel had drawn it half-asleep, of an old looking book with metallic strips binding it together, surrounded by flames that were being doused with water. "In the past, we had thought that children of Hephaestus rarely had the fire gift. Every time one made it to camp, bad things happened. Even if the outcome was good, they still signified wars, death, and life-changing events. However, if you look at the circumstances around the demigod coming to camp, the events were often laid out long before that child was born. We now have reason to believe that the children of Hephaestus who make it to camp and have fire powers, are not the ones to start special events, but instead the few that managed to survive long enough to get to camp. After the past years events, we've been getting more demigods, which means it's likely Tito and Adelita won't be the only cases of fire-users or even any other unusual demigod power. With that in mind, there is a prophecy on the table now, and two groups to go. Here is how the prophecy goes." Chiron picked up a piece of printer paper and read from it.

" _Children burn in fanatics flame,_

_Mark of the godly seen as a bane._

_Demigod children of the forge god,_

_Display powers that many had forgot._

_Wars long fought and already passed,_

_Still leave their marks in changing paths._

 

_Two groups to go, two tasks to complete._

_Give the new kids a chance, lest the old kids repeat._

_In scorching cities, through chilling alleys._

_Somewhere hidden, long forgotten._

_Book burns brightly where no light goes,_

_Come back home and avoid the patrols._

_A city block of suburb slums,_

_A woman with a burning bruise._

_Melt the chains of steel and ice,_

_Find the key that glows and hums._

_Bring the lock and key together,_

_Blinded by secrets, forever undone._ "

There was silence for a while after Chiron had read it. Then Leo spoke up. "Hold up, you can't be saying to send out little kids on this quest?!" Chaos broke out at that.

"Is that what it means?"

"Who's going on the quest?"

"I think Rebecca could go! More power to Ares!"

"Clarisse, she's like twelve."

"So? Prissy went on a quest when he was twelve."

"Pick me!"

"Enough!" Chiron was not loud, but the tone of voice he used with him was firm, and the room quieted quickly. Nico looked down, feeling guilty at the disappointment in Chirons voice, even if Nico hadn't been the one chattering. "The prophecy is clear in its words. No demigods who have gone on a quest before. But," the old centaur added quickly, seeing the murderous look in Leo's eyes. The little tinker looked ready to remind Chiron that not all omegas were just gonna roll over and take bullshit. "That doesn't mean we'll be sending out anyone unprepared. There are plenty of campers who have been training for years. We'll need two groups of three. What I want you all to do is put up a sign-up list in your cabins. Campers who have trained for at least six months may sign up. We'll see who's interested, and go from there. The only exception we'll have to make is for--"

"You can't think sending a seven year old is a good idea, Chiron!" Leo shouted. He stopped at Chirons expression.

"I don't like it any more than you do, Leo, but the prophecy clearly states that their powers will be necessary, and you aren't able to go. Adelita will go, and there will be two other demigods with her to protect her. End of discussion. The meeting is over. Go about your duties. And someone tell Percy he needs to take those two to the infirmery to be cleaned up before they go on their tour."

Jason shoved Nico over before he knew what was going on. Looking down, he saw Percy helping Tito draw something while listening to a story. Nico was sure that Percy didn't understand a word of it, but he looked like he knew everything. Nicos chest tightened a little. Percy looked like he could be a dad, dealing with his own kids. He'd be a good parent one day. Nico didn't want to interrupt, but finally he had to. "Uh, Percy?" Percy looked up, grinning brightly. "Chiron said you need to take--they need to go to the infirmary."

Percy nodded. "Sounds good. C'mon, guys." Somehow, even with the language barrier, Percy was able to coax the two out the door. Just before the door shut, Percy turned to look over his shoulder at Nico. "I'll see you at lunch? We can talk then." Nico nodded jerkily, unable to say anything. Then the door shut.

 

 


End file.
